


nothing's all black, but nothing's all white

by celaenos



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, in between episode 18 and 19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 20:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2401244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/pseuds/celaenos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holding your vampire roommate hostage for nine days straight? Piece of cake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing's all black, but nothing's all white

The first night should be the most awkward, but it's not. She's still all hyped up on adrenaline from subduing a million year old vampire (well... _helping_ to subdue. Danny, Lafontaine, and the boys did most of the work, but she had a spatula ready) and Danny refuses to let her stay there all alone.

  
Which, initially _is_ very awkward when they both turn and stare at Laura's bed. “She isn't using hers, so... I'll take it and you can have mine.” Laura volunteers quickly. Danny nods at her and slips into Laura's bed after shooting a pointed look to Carmilla. Her legs stick out a little, but she crams them up to her chest and gives Laura a sheepish smile. Carmilla shifts the slightest bit in her seat and Laura catches her eye. She just looks angry. Laura can feel it radiating off of her and she wonders how long they can really keep her here. Rope, and garlic, and crosses seem incredibly pathetic all the sudden. Laura tries to ignore her as climbs into her bed—with her stolen yellow pillow, _again_ —but she can feel Carmilla's eyes trailing her the entire time. “Well... goodnight.”  
  
She's not sure if she's saying it to Danny, or Carmilla, or both, but Danny is the one who responds. It feels like hours before she finally falls asleep, and she doesn't feel Carmilla's eyes leave her once.  
  
…  
…  
  
The first thing she sees when she wakes up is Carmilla, looking a little pouty in her chair. The minute she notices that Laura is awake, she straightens up and glares.  
  
“Uhh... morning,” Laura mumbles. Her hair is sticking up on one side and her tank top has rucked up a little.  
  
Carmilla's glare deepens.  
  
“Right...” Laura climbs out of Carmilla's bed and dashes into the bathroom. She may not have quite fully thought this plan through.  
  
She and Danny attempt to interrogate Carmilla until nine a.m. but they get nowhere. Danny has an early morning swim practice that she can't miss, and Laura really shouldn't skip another day of classes. Despite the whole, vampire roommate thing, and girls going missing, she does still have to keep her grades up—as insane as that sounds. Carmilla isn't forthcoming about her vampire bathroom needs, but Laura knows she hasn't had anything to drink since the few sips of champagne the night before, so she promises to check in after lunch and leaves her there. The door locked and her computer camera on.  
  
Lafontaine and Perry bring over some blood during lunch. Which, is one of the weirder things to happen since she's come to Silas University, but somehow doesn't quite make the top five. Lafontaine's idea for leverage is probably a good one, not to mention, Laura doesn't actually want to force Carmilla to starve to death. She just wants answers.  
  
The four of them eat cookies and spitfire questions at Carmilla for an hour with no luck before disbanding and going to their afternoon classes. Carmilla doesn't utter a single word, or look any of them in the eye.  
  
Concentrating in her classes is difficult. All she can think about is Carmilla. Which is _incredibly_ annoying, but nothing new as of late. But it is especially embarrassing when her professor calls her out for not paying attention. Sheepishly, she apologizes and ducks her head down. The minute he dismisses them, she bolts for the door.  
  
She comes back to her dorm room tired and hungry to find Carmilla exactly where she left her—glaring off into space. Despite wanting to ask her a million questions, Laura opts for a bout of silent treatment as she changes into some sweats and attempts to do some of her homework. When Danny shows up with Chinese food, it's a welcome distraction. They sit on her bed and to eat and try—very poorly—to ignore the elephant in the room. Laura cracks open her fortune cookie and reads it out loud. “All things are difficult before they are easy,” Danny raises her eyebrows at her. “Huh... well...” her eyes go to Carmilla of their own volition. Her glare seems to deepen slightly. It's actually rather impressive. “What's yours say Danny?” she asks, looking away from Carmilla. It's difficult. Her gaze seems to draw you in. Which, according to her extensive vampire research, is possibly a power of hers. Laura will have to be more careful.  
  
“Hum...” Danny opens hers and shoves the cookie into her mouth before reading. “You will be hungry again in one hour,” she laughs. “Well, it's probably not wrong.”  
  
Laura grins at her and grabs the last one, surprised that there are three. “And... Carmilla's says, Love what makes you smile when you're tired.” She can't help but look at Carmilla out of the corner of her eye. She thinks she detects the slightest change in her face, but she can't be sure. “Huh, well, these things are always pretty stupid,” she says, and throws it into the trash can.  
  
Lafontaine and Perry show up a few minutes later, and Laura digs out her notepad. She has skimmed multiple summaries of vampire books on Wikipedia, and re-watched episodes of _Buffy_ and _Angel_. She also watched some episodes of _The Vampire Diaries_ , multiple versions of Dracula, and generally just scoured the web for information. She has over thirty-five pages of notes. Double sided. With footnote questions of her own. If she had done this much to study for her American history class, she would have currently have an A instead of a C+.

Laura keeps her gaze down on her notepad, or looks at Carmilla's ear, rather than look her in the eye as she asks questions. If anyone notices her hesitance, they don't mention it.

But no matter what questions they ask, or how many times they dangle the mug of blood in front of her face, Carmilla remains stony and silent.

“I can stay again,” Danny offers a few hours later.  
  
Laura shoots a glance over her shoulder at Carmilla. “You don't have to,” she says. Danny's face falls a little, but Laura thinks she detects the slightest bit of relief in it.  
  
“But—” Danny weakly begins to protest.  
  
“You're roommate is going to wonder where you are, and at least one of us should get some sleep.” Danny doesn't look especially convinced. But something about the idea of sharing a room with the two of them again feels stifling. “She's tied up,” Laura reminds her. “I'll be fine.”  
  
Danny sighs, “Okay. But... text me if you need anything, and I'll come right over.”  
  
“Will do,” Laura promises, and honest to fucking god  _salutes_ at her. Like an _idiot._ Thankfully, Danny just smiles at her and walks down the hall. Laura groans and bangs her head against the door. “I. Am. Such. An. Idiot.”  
  
Carmilla snorts.  
  
It's the first sign of communication she's given apart from calling them all dimwits the day before. So, naturally, Laura jumps on it. She sits across from Carmilla and glares back at her dead on. It might not be the most impressive glare in the world, but she thinks she holds her own for a few seconds at least. And she doesn't feel hypnotized. Carmilla looks almost amused for half a second, but then her face just slips back into its natural frown. Laura sighs. “You know, you're going to have to talk to me sometime.” She climbs into her own bed and shuts off the lights. She can still feel Carmilla's gaze on her, and does her best to ignore it.  
  
She has nightmares again; but this time when she wakes up, she can't remember anything. She's shaky and cold, the covers are all bunched up and twisted down around her knees. Carmilla looks like she might be asleep in her chair, and... exhausted, Laura bends over and digs the weird batwing bracelet out from under her bed and ties it on her wrist.  
  
She sleeps soundly for the rest of the night.  
  
…  
…  
  
Carmilla is awake and fully alert again when Laura wakes up and nearly falls out of her bed. The only reaction Carmilla gives her is a slight tick of an eyebrow raise.  
  
“Unless you are going to start explaining about girls being kidnapped and your involvement in it—I don't want to hear a word,” she says from the floor. Carmilla's eyes trail down her body and land on the bracelet on her wrist. Laura shoves it behind her back. “Uh...” she doesn't really have a good response, so she hides in the bathroom. She really hopes this isn't going to become a habit.  
  
She attempts to go to her morning classes, but her concentration is too shot to do her any good. By her lunch break, she has given up on going to her afternoon classes and texts a girl named Megan for the notes. Feigning a stomach ache, she heads back to her room.  
  
Carmilla is starting to look a little pale. Good. That will show her. The worse she feels, the closer she will get to confessing. Then, Laura can find out if Betty is alright and what happened to the other girls who disappeared. She will finally have some real answers.  
  
When Danny, Lafontaine, and Perry arrive after dinner, they all look a little burnt out. The same questions get asked over and over again (How old are you? What did you do to the girls? Have you been sucking Laura's blood at night? Can we see your fangs? Can you eat real, human food? Why do the girls turn into partiers after they go missing? Why would you keep going to college if you don't have to? Are you rich? Does blood taste bad? Can you lift a car over your head? Where is Betty? Etc.) but like the last two nights, Carmilla just sits there.  
  
Lafontaine suggests they try a little bit of a more hands on method, but Laura vetoes her.  
  
"Starvation is a tried and true tactic. I googled it."  
  
"Starvation is a pretty boring tactic if you're not the one being starved." Lafontaine says with a groan. "Plus, I've got an essay due in two days that I really need to work on."  
  
"Huddle," Laura orders. And Perry covers up Carmilla's ears again. They decide to take off a day or two of interrogation. Not as in giving up! Laura insists. But to really let Carmilla stew and get properly hungry. That, and they all have a lot of homework and asking the same questions over and over to someone who won't even look at them _is_ a little boring.  
  
They leave Laura alone with Carmilla (with pointed looks from Danny on the way out) and she does her best to simply ignore her roommate. It's not really all that different from how they shared a room beforehand—apart Carmilla being unable to move.  
  
Laura has never been able to keep quiet for very long periods of time.  
  
"So... you really don't need to use the bathroom?" she asks as she's getting ready for bed. Carmilla doesn't respond, which is really starting to get old. "Well, I _know_ you can eat cookies,” she says, annoyed. “So it must go somewhere." She sits down on her bed and hugs her yellow pillow to her chest. "Your skin never feels cold either. So... do your lungs work? If you get a cut will you bleed? I mean, how dead—undead—exactly are you?"  
  
Carmilla gives her nothing.  
  
Laura sighs in frustration. "Fine." She shuts off the lights and slips the batwing bracket on from its place under her pillow. If it's working, then it's working, but she's not going to give Carmilla the satisfaction of seeing it.  
  
She doesn't say goodnight.  
  
...  
...  
  
On day four, she puts Carmilla out of her mind entirely. She concentrates on her classes so intensely that one of her professors asks her if she is feeling alright.  
  
She only goes back to her dorm room during her break to make sure Carmilla is still there. She has this weird feeling that Carmilla can break out of her binds anytime she wants. She's not sure why, because there is no way Carmilla would just allow herself to stay there and starve, but Laura can't help but wonder. She is still right there where Laura left her, so she turns around and leaves.  
  
Once her classes are over, she gets some food and eats in the library as she studies. She ends up having to give up when some idiot boy pisses off the dictionaries. They start screaming definitions out every time someone walks past them. Then, once people clue in enough to stay put, they just scream them out one after another. Laura holds out until they reach the B's, then she can't take it anymore.  
  
Carmilla looks decidedly more horrible when she gets back, but Laura ignores her completely and goes straight to sleep.  
  
...  
...  
  
Day five is the first day Carmilla is sound asleep when Laura wakes up. She doesn't look comfortable in the slightest. Her neck is hanging down to the side in a painful slump, and she looks much paler than yesterday.  
  
Laura gently stuffs a pillow (not her yellow one) under Carmilla's neck and goes to class.  
  
...  
...  
  
Carmilla's 'study buddies' won't stop coming around and looking for her over the weekend. Laura tells all of them that Carmilla is visiting her aunt in Iceland and shuts the door in their faces. Carmilla doesn't seem interested in them in the slightest. She never cries out for help or seems to care at all what they want. Laura wonders just how little all these girls mean to her.  
  
...  
...  
  
They resume their interrogations with full force on Monday. It has been a full week since they caught Carmilla, and she doesn't look good. Laura has offered her blood multiple times over the weekend, but Carmilla remains as silent and broody as ever.  
  
Perry finally loses it and starts waving the spatula in Carmilla's face. Then she smacks everyone in the room with it. Carmilla included.  
  
"We kidnaped someone!” she yells far too loudly. “We have been holding _a hostage_ for an entire week! We're going to get sued, and expelled, and arrested, and I am going to fail my anthropology class!"  
  
Lafontaine calms her down and throws the spatula at Laura as they leave. Danny heads out not too long after that, right as another brokenhearted study buddy comes looking for Carmilla.  
  
"I've got to give it to her, the girl must be doing something right." Danny mumbles under her breath after Laura shuffles the girl away.

“I suppose,” Laura says with a shrug she hopes comes of as nonchalant.

“How much longer are we going to keep doing this?” Danny whispers. “I mean... nothing is working.”

“Until we find out what happened to Betty and Natalie.” Laura says, firmly. “Until we find out how Sarah Jane died. She _has_ to tell us. She _will_ ,” Laura insists, far more for her own benefit then Danny's. “It just... it might take a little time.”

Danny nods and gives her a tired look before walking off to her dorm.

Laura rounds on Carmilla. “You _are_ going to have to talk to us soon,” she says. It doesn't come off as commanding as she was hoping for.

…

…

When Carmilla starts seizing, or whatever it is she is doing, Laura's heart drops into her stomach. She rushes and grabs the mug of blood, pouring it down Carmilla's throat until she settles a little. “Oh thank god,” Laura whispers, when she sees Carmilla's eyes open and her body stops shaking.

“Damnit,” Carmilla mutters.

“Do you want some more?” Laura asks, her hand still holding the back of Carmilla's head. Even now, it baffles her that Carmilla is warm. Laura keeps expecting her to be cold and clammy, but she feels very alive. Even if she doesn't exactly look it right now. When Laura tries to wipe a bit of blood off Carmilla's lip, she jerks away. “What?”

“The experience of being held captive by a clutch of imbeciles for something I didn't even have the pleasure of _doing,_ is humiliating enough without having you wipe me up like a dribbling _child._ ” Carmilla snaps at her.

Laura sighs, she has had enough of this, but at least Carmilla is finally talking. “Look if you really want me to believe you didn't have anything to do with it, then you have got to explain what you were doing at those parties. Cause the night that we caught you, it sure looked like you were about to eat me.”

“Wait,” Carmilla says, “you thought that was me trying to eat you?”

“Well if you weren't trying to eat me then what were you...” Carmilla's face twists into something that looks like pain, and Laura finally gets it. “Oh,” she says. Carmilla closes her eyes. “ _Oh_ ,” Laura repeats, a little smugly. “So... when you were hitting on me... you were really hitting on me?” she asks, still unable to believe it.

“Yes,” Carmilla admits with a small gasp. Laura grins to herself, unconsciously. It's not everyday someone who looks like Carmilla is interested in someone like her. “And you were luring me into a trap,” she adds with a groan, looking down at the floor. “Could you just stake me know? Because I think that would be less mortifying than this conversation.”

Laura is still having trouble getting past the fact that Carmilla was interested in her. Not in killing her, or using her as a snack—but just, her, as a person.

Some first date that ended up turning out to be.

Carmilla looks like she might start seizing again, or throwing up, or never look Laura in the eye again, so she shoves down this new bit of information for later, and jumps back in to the task at hand. “If you want us to trust you, then you have got to tell us your side of the story.”

She is worried that Carmilla is just going to clam up again, and that she will never find out what the hell is going on, but instead she sighs and finally, _finally_ agrees to tell Laura everything she knows.

All it took was nine days held hostage and a bit of sexual tension—piece of cake really. Veronica Mars has nothing on her.

 

 


End file.
